Kevan Lannister

Kevan was the second son of Lord Tytos Lannister and Jeyne Marbrand, and from boyhood he followed close on the heels of his elder brother Tywin. Their father sent him to Castamere as a page and later a squire under Lord Roger Reyne; there, alongside Tywin and Tygett, he took up arms in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, and it was Reyne himself who knighted him.

Back at Casterly Rock, Tywin set him to clearing the westerlands of robber knights and collecting debts long owed to the Rock. Anyone who couldn't pay on the spot had to hand over a hostage, and that's how Dorna Swyft, given up by her father Ser Harys, ended up in Kevan's keeping. He fell for her and married her in 266 AC. Lord Reyne, unlike Ser Harys, refused to pay at all, and the standoff between Casterly Rock and Castamere ended with a hostage swap of its own — Walderan Tarbeck held by Tywin, Stafford Lannister held by Ellyn Reyne — which Kevan settled by trading one prisoner for the other.

Tytos Lannister died the following year, in 267 AC, and Tywin inherited Casterly Rock. As a second son Kevan got no lands of his own, only an income and his brother's total trust, and he stood at Tywin's side for every decision that mattered in the years that followed.

When war breaks out between the Starks and the Lannisters, Kevan rides with Tywin into the riverlands. At the Battle of the Green Fork he's given command of the main body of troops, held back to reinforce the left flank if it buckles; Roose Bolton, leading the northmen, never takes the bait, and the battle plays out without Kevan seeing much of the fighting.

While the bulk of the army pushes south, Robb Stark catches the Lannister rearguard off guard in the Whispering Wood and takes Jaime Lannister, Tywin's eldest son, along with Willem, one of Kevan's own twin sons. Soon after, Robb frees Riverrun in the Battle of the Camps. When word reaches the Lannisters at the Crossroads Inn, it's Kevan who steps in to defend Jaime's conduct against Ser Harys Swyft's reproaches.

Tywin then orders Kevan to put Gregor Clegane, Amory Lorch, and Vargo Hoat in charge of the parties sent to lay waste to the riverlands, while he himself marches the rest of the army to Harrenhal.

After two of Tywin's squires die, Kevan takes in an orphaned boy, Podrick Payne, and sends him to King's Landing to squire for his nephew Tyrion.

When the Lannister army leaves Harrenhal and tries to force its way back to the westerlands, Edmure Tully turns them back at the Red Fork. The Lannisters then join forces with the Tyrells and crush Stannis Baratheon at the Battle of the Blackwater, though Kevan's son Lancel comes out of it badly wounded. Once the battle's won, it's Kevan who announces the rewards for the victors in the throne room, in King Joffrey's name; at his request, Tywin makes Lancel lord of Darry.

King Joffrey names Kevan Master of Laws on his small council. It's Kevan who pays off and dismisses the guards still watching over the wounded Tyrion, and who welcomes his nephew warmly back to the council table. He worries constantly about Lancel, still recovering from his wounds at the Blackwater. At Tyrion's wedding to Sansa Stark, Kevan dances with Lady Janna Tyrell, and with the bride herself.

After Jaime escapes with Catelyn Tully's help, Rickard Karstark kills two of Robb Stark's prisoners — Willem Lannister and Tion Frey — to avenge his own sons. With Willem dead, Martyn still a captive, and Lancel weakened, Kevan is swallowed by worry, and Tywin ends up leaning on Tyrion more than he'd like. Robb eventually agrees to trade Martyn for Robett Glover.

When news of the Red Wedding arrives, it turns Kevan's stomach to hear Joffrey demand Robb Stark's head, meant as a gift for Sansa on the day of his own wedding to Margaery Tyrell; Tywin refuses to give the king what he wants.

For Joffrey's wedding, Kevan gives him a fine red leather jousting saddle and escorts Lady Olenna Redwyne in the bridal procession. At the feast he's pleased to hear Sansa praise Lancel's courage, not long before Joffrey chokes to death in front of every guest. Tyrion is named as the killer.

Kevan, reluctantly, comes to believe his nephew is guilty, though Tyrion denies it and asks for Sansa to testify in his defense — Kevan can't find her anywhere in King's Landing. He visits Tyrion in his cell every night and carries Tywin's offer to him: plead guilty and take the black. Tyrion demands trial by combat instead, and Kevan is there to watch his nephew's champion, Prince Oberyn Martell, die at Gregor Clegane's hands.

After the Red Wedding, Kevan gets young King Tommen to sign off on a stack of overdue papers, and tries and fails to patch things up between Tywin and Jaime. Not long after, Varys and Jaime help Tyrion escape before his execution, and Tyrion kills their father with a crossbow in the Tower of the Hand.

Kevan is among the first told when Tywin's body is found; he prays over it, undone by his brother's murder, and attends the funeral at the Great Sept of Baelor. Around the same time, Lancel, wracked with guilt over his part in King Robert's death and over sharing a bed with his cousin Cersei, confesses everything to the High Septon.

Cersei, now queen regent, offers her uncle the position of Hand of the King. Kevan doesn't trust her rule — he reminds her that Tywin meant to send her back to Casterly Rock, remarried, before he died — and says he'll only take the post if he's also made Tommen's regent and allowed to return west; he suggests Mathis Rowan or Randyll Tarly for Hand instead. Cersei refuses, throws wine in his face when he criticizes how she raised Joffrey, and he lets slip to her, then to Jaime, that he knows what's between the two of them.

Cersei hands the posts Kevan was better suited for to other cousins instead: Daven Lannister as Warden of the West, Damion Lannister as castellan of Casterly Rock. Losing the wardenship to Daven stings, though Kevan doesn't hold it against him, knowing his cousin never asked for it. At Tommen's wedding to Margaery, Cersei asks him to hunt down the Hound; he refuses.

He leads the escort taking Tywin's body west to be buried at Casterly Rock. Cersei, meanwhile, names Ser Harys Swyft as Hand — Dorna's own father, kept close as a quiet threat against Kevan. Back in the west, Kevan helps Lancel rebuild Darry and arranges his marriage to Amerei Frey so the smallfolk will accept House Lannister of Darry more readily, but the now-pious Lancel quarrels with his father, and Kevan leaves right after the wedding; Lancel later gives up Darry altogether to join the Warrior's Sons.

On the road west he spends three days at the siege of Riverrun, withdrawn and cold toward Daven. Jaime, sent to pacify the riverlands, talks about him with their aunt Genna, who tells him that Kevan's sense of duty is much like his own. When the Faith locks Cersei up, Harys and Grand Maester Pycelle send a raven to Casterly Rock, offering Kevan the regency.

Kevan accepts the regency for Tommen and sets about undoing Cersei's mistakes. As a concession to the Tyrells, he names Mace Tyrell Hand of the King and brings two of his bannermen onto the small council — Paxter Redwyne as master of ships, Randyll Tarly as justiciar.

He visits Cersei in her cell and confronts her about Lancel; win or lose her trial, he tells her, her rule is already over. In council he argues over how to handle the threat of Jon Connington and his cloth dragon, and the crown's money troubles; later he dines with Cersei and young Tommen.

A servant tells Kevan that Grand Maester Pycelle is looking for him. He finds a raven first, carrying word that winter has come, and then Varys appears and puts a crossbow bolt in his chest. Sinking into a chair, he sees Pycelle slumped over a book, a pool of blood under his head. Varys tells him he can't be allowed to undo what Cersei built — that she'll believe Tyrion or the Tyrells had Kevan killed, and that the crossfire of suspicion will be enough to break the Lannister-Tyrell alliance and clear Aegon's path to the Iron Throne — then sends his little birds to finish him.